The Conkeror Web Browser Conquers Small Screens

Conkeror is a Web browser with an Emacs-style look, feel and
configuration. It uses Firefox's HTML rendering engine and works with
most Firefox extensions, but it provides a keyboard-driven interface and
makes excellent use of screen space. It's a fitting Web browser for
Netbooks with their imprecise touchpads and small screens. Conkeror uses
the same free software license as Firefox.

Figure 1. Conkeror Web Browser

Installing Conkeror

Users of Debian Lenny, Debian Sid and Ubuntu Jaunty should install the
conkeror and conkeror-spawn-process-helper packages. Users of other
distributions should install the XULRunner package (xulruner-1.9 or
xulrunner). If you installed the Firefox package, that package installed
XULRunner for you. After you install XULRunner, download a Conkeror
snapshot and unpack it into your usual software directory—you don't
need to compile anything. See Resources for a link to
the Conkeror snapshot download.

To put the Conkeror launcher in one of your regular executable
directories so that you can start Conkeror from a command prompt or
application launcher, create a symbolic link from the
conkeror/contrib/run-conkeror file to one of your usual executable
directories. For example:

If your distribution doesn't include Firefox, download XULRunner from
Mozilla and unpack it into your usual software directory. Then, download
a Conkeror snapshot and unpack it also into your usual software
directory. See Resources for links to the downloads.

You must perform an extra step to make the Conkeror launcher
work. First, copy the xulrunner-stub file from the XULRunner directory
into the Conkeror directory. Then, create a symbolic link from that file
to one of your usual executable directories. For example:

You don't need to configure Conkeror to get started; simply start
the conkeror executable you installed. Conkeror's start page lists which
keys perform which actions (keybindings). The first keybinding listed,
g, goes to the URL you specify. For example, load the Linux
Journal
home page by pressing g and
typing linuxjournal.com. Follow links by clicking
them, as you would do in Firefox, and press B to return to previous
pages or F to advance to later pages.

Return to the basic list of keybindings on the start page by
pressing, C-h i. In Conkeror and Emacs, C- stands for, “hold Ctrl
and press the next key”. For example, C-h i stands for “hold Ctrl,
press h, release Ctrl and h, and press i”. Conkeror uses other Emacs
keybinding abbreviations also: M- means hold the Meta key (the Alt
key on PC keyboards and the Option key on Macintosh keyboards); S-
means hold the Shift key. For a complete list of Conkeror keybindings,
press C-h b.

Although you can follow links by clicking them, you should learn to
follow them using the keyboard to get the most out of Conkeror. To
follow a link with the keyboard, press f. Conkeror places a small
number next to each link (Figure 2), including link images. Enter a number to
follow its link or type letters from the name of the link you want. As
you type letters, Conkeror removes the numbers from links that don't
match those letters and renumbers the remaining links. Even on a slow
computer, this happens instantly. If only one link matches the letters
you entered, Conkeror automatically follows it.

Figure 2. Following Links in Conkeror

For example, let's assume the three link names:
foo, bar and baz. Typing f and 3 follows the third link, baz.
Typing f and baz also follows the baz link. Typing f and b
removes the number next to foo, so that you can press 1 to select bar
or 2 to select baz.

As in Firefox, you can start a search within Conkeror. Press g, type
“google”, type your search term, and press Return to go to the Google
result for your search term. Replace “google” with
“lucky” to go
straight to the first Google result, or replace it with any of the
following words to use another search engine: “wikipedia”
“sourceforge” or “dictionary”. When you search Google, Conkeror asks
Google to guess what you're searching for and displays the best matching
results in a list. Press Tab to select the top result, use the keyboard
arrow keys to select an alternative result, or simply finish typing your
search terms and press Enter. This also works for Wikipedia searches.

Conkeror is emacs-ified by default. But, if you are a vi user you can just change the keybindings. I did, and now use Conkeror with vi-like j/k keybindings for scrolling up and down, and other such customizations. I mention this option as I find that it's a smaller/more streamlined solution than using Vimperator with Firefox.

This sounds great. Any idea how well it works on eee PCs? I'll try it out later with the netbook desktop. BUT, get a new name! Why confuse this with Konqueror, when it's a Firefox derivative? That doesn't make sense. Develop a name better suited to the product.

Very interesting, I have kinda been looking for a better browser for my AAO, now I have found one. What's more is that it supports Windows, too (I dual-boot, yes shame on me, though windows only has like a 30GB partition and Linux has closer to 60GB).

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